todays news

[lindsay s]

Hi all I’m still out there but I haven’t been on this forum for the last six months so I’ve a lot of catching up to do. A bad case of Bee Fever has brought me back. I still have my bees and you will get an update soon.
Lindsay

[Jon]

Good to get an update from the outer limits!

[Trog]

Glad you still have your bees, Lindsay.

[lindsay s]

Last year’s news.
I ended up with 173lbs of honey from 6 producing colonies which was more than I expected considering our weather. I was very pleased with the quality and I could have sold it three times over. I went into winter with eight colonies, six full strength and two nucs on seven frames and a dummy in standard brood boxes. Three colonies had been on open mesh floors but I replaced them with wooden ones. Winter 2013/14 was wet and windy apart from two days of snow.
This year’s news.
The 5th of April was the first time I managed to carry out a quick inspection. All of the floors were cleaned and I found a few of them very damp. Seven colonies had brood and one colony was queenless. The queenless colony was united with one of the nucs a few days later (newspaper method). Three colonies that were low on stores were given a little feed of syrup. The weather was better for my next inspection so I removed quite a few old and mouldy combs from the hives.
Yesterday’s news.
The day was dull windy and 12⁰c but the apiary needed attention so I just had just had to get on with it, the forecast for the rest of the week showed no signs of improvement. My strongest hive has 6½ frames of brood and the rest have 4 to 5 frames of brood apart from one nuc. The nuc has three small brood patches and barely enough bees to keep it covered. This nuc had been united with my queenless colony but unfortunately most of the old bees left and boosted the nearest hive to their old location which just happened to be my strongest hive (beginners please take note uniting colonies doesn’t always work). It was worth a try anyway and I ‘m not going to give up on the nuc just yet. There is an abundance of dandelions out at the moment and the new comb that’s being built has quite a yellow tinge to it. I for one am glad to see the dandelions and they play a major part in my colonies spring build up.

[Jon]

Lindsay. I presume your bees are native or at least native type that far north.

[lindsay s]

Lindsay. I presume your bees are native or at least native type that far north.

Hello Jon
The quick answer is yes and no. Jimbo was kind enough to test samples from 3 of my colonies in August 2011. The results were 88%amm, 94%amm and the other sample was hybrid. I will post more details on the makeup of our bees once I’ve made a few enquiries.
As far as colony strength goes I’ve just been speaking to another beekeeper and her bees are at the same stage as mine. We try to have our bees at full strength by early June just in time for the white clover. There is no June gap up here.

[nemphlar]

I was told by a recent visitor that the Orkney bees have learned to fly below the walls, I'd love to have seen that

[prakel]

In light of the recent bee theft threads, here's a report of some that have actually been found

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news...where-27283519

and we keep hearing how cheap bees are on the Continent!

[HJBee]

Today's news indeed, Shame article doesn't cover off likelihood of them actually crossing the Channel
Shared from Sky News: 'Killer' Asian Hornet Could Threaten Honey Bees http://news.sky.com/story/1258679

[gavin]

The folk in the Scottish Government/SASA would like to start monitoring with traps, especially at sites where bulk transport might bring them straight in. I was sceptical, but they are right of course.